Application of bilateral pedicled buccal fat pad in wide primary cleft palate.

We have used the pedicled buccal fat pad in a patient with a wide unilateral cleft palate when there was tension in the nasal layer even after complete release. The levator muscle was dissected and repositioned and the nasal layer was released transversely at the site of maximum tension between the hard and soft palate. The pedicled flap was placed into this defect. Pedicled buccal fat pad can be brought from the lateral releasing incision itself without adding another donor site. The postoperative course was uneventful.